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Partnership agreements

ILO, Russian Federation sign key agreements

The ILO and the Russian Federation have launched a new and strategic era of cooperation with the signing of three key agreements.

Press release | 11 December 2012
From left to right:
  • Aleksandr Shokhin, President, Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs
  • Guy Ryder, Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO)
  • Maxim Topilin, Minister of Labour and Social Protection of the Russian Federation
  • Mikhail Shmakov, Chairman, Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia
MOSCOW (ILO News) – The International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Russian Federation have launched a new and strategic era of cooperation with the signing of three key agreements.

The agreements aim at further promoting decent work, helping developing countries improve delivery of skills for employment, and promote youth employment through a partnership agreement with Russian oil giant Lukoil.

The agreements were signed at the International High-level Conference on Decent Work in Moscow which runs on 11-12 December.

Programme of Cooperation


The main objective of the Programme of Cooperation for 2013-2016 is to promote the further development of labour relations in the Russian Federation with a view to achieving decent work. The following key priorities have been agreed upon by the government and the social partners:

  • Increasing employment opportunities and creating better jobs;
  • Ensuring safe working conditions and enhancing social protection;
  • Promoting international labour standards, and strengthening social dialogue.

It continues previous cooperation programmes and takes into account the impact of the global crisis, the economic recovery and globalization of the labour market.

Agreement with the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation


The second document is an agreement between the ILO and the Ministry of finance of the Russian Federation.

It applies the G20 Training Strategy in three countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Jordan and Viet Nam. It aims at improving the quality and relevance of vocational training and entrepreneurship in order to better meet labour market needs.

In May 2012, the Russian parliament approved US$ 8 million for the project, which is expected to run for three years. It is the Russian government’s first technical project with the ILO.

Key aspects of the project will be implemented by the Moscow School of Management, known as Skolkovo, in partnership with the ILO. Skolkovo is the leading national business training institution, with strong support from the private sector.

The project will focus in particular on:

  • anticipating and meeting skills needed for trade and economic diversification
  • upgrading competencies and effectiveness of vocational training managers
  • facilitating business participation in vocational training, particularly at the sector and local levels
  • improving workforce capabilities as part of helping enterprises adopt new technologies and work practices, improve competitiveness, and enter new markets.
  • enhancing labour market information and employment services.

The G20 Training Strategy for a Skilled Workforce for Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth was prepared by the ILO. Leaders at the 2010 G20 summit in Seoul pledged to support developing countries in implementing skills for employment, building on the Training Strategy. Russia is the first country to provide technical and financial support to expand this work beyond the initial pilot countries.

Global partnership agreement between the ILO and Lukoil


The ILO and Lukoil have signed a partnership agreement to start a global cooperation that will permit the two partners to initially work in three areas – youth employment, shared expertise and training – before expanding into additional ones.

Lukoil agreed to support the ILO in the design and implementation of a technical cooperation project entitled “Partnerships for youth employment in the Commonwealth of Independent States”.

Lukoil also agreed to cooperate with the ILO’s Bureau for Employers’ Activities on training programmes, and to start a close collaboration for sharing expertise.


For more information, please contact Olga Bogdanova at bogdanova@ilo.org or the ILO Department of Communication and Public Information at communication@ilo.org or +4122/799-7912.